Ear-piercer



l(No Model. y

J. F. HORNBERGBR.

EAR PIERCER.

N0. 460,138. Patented Sept. 29, 1891 'f a Z2? a E NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN F. HORNBERGER, OF LAVRENOEBURG, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO E. & eI. SOHVERKERT, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

EAR-PIERCER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 460,188, dated September 29, 1891. Application filed November 19, 1890. Serial No.l 371,920. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J oHN F. I-IORNBERGER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Lawrenceburg, in the county of Dearborn and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Piercing the Ear, of which the following is a specification.

The several features of my invention and ro the various advantages arising from their use, conjointly or otherwise, will be apparent from the following description and claim.

In the accompanying drawings, making Va pait of this specification, and to which reference is hereby made, Figure 1 is a side View of an ear-piercer embodying my invention, all of the parts being shown in elevation with the exception of the pointed cap. A central longitudinal section of this cap is here shown 2o in position for piercing the ear. One form of ear-ring is also shown in the position it occupies while the ear is being pierced. In Fig. 2 the shank is shown in side elevation and the handle attached thereto is shown in central longitudinal section. The rear end of the handle is broken off to better afford room for displaying the shank and pointed cap as separated the one from the other. A central or axial section of the pointed cap is 3o here shown. Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken through the shank and pointed cap when together. This section is taken at the dotted line 3 3 of Fig. l, but the ear-rin g shown in Fig. 1 is omitted from this View. Fig. lis a view in perspective of the shank, showing the side of it and those ends of it which face toward the left hand in Fig. 1.

For the purposes of perspicuity in description the various devices and things shown in 4o all of these figures are therein shown of a larger size than they actually are.

A indicates the shank, having a channel B. This channel extends longitudinally in the shank to one end thereof. The other end portion of the shank may be used as the handle, and in such event will preferably be solid, thus forming the shank portion O, as shown. As the shank A is in fact of a very small thickness or diameter, it is desirable that the 5o handle be thicker in order that it may present a better hold for the fingers of the hand of the 'operator who does the piercing of the ear.

I have therefore provided a handle, as D, preferably made of wood. The shank p0rtions A O are preferably of metal, and a convenient and practicable mode of uniting them to the handle consists, as shown, in inserting the freevend of portion O in the end of the handle D. A cap E is also present. One end F of this cap E is pointed. The other end is 6o open and is the termination of an opening G, extending into the cap. The width of this opening is such as to admit of the channeled end of the shank A O being passed into it and fit-ting closely therein.

In practice that portion, as H, of the earring I which is to be placed in the orifice to be formed in the ear is located in the recess B of the shank, the free end of the said portion H being near the free end of the shank 7o A, substantially as shown in Fig. 1. The cap E is now slipped over the said ends of the shank A and ear-ring until these ends come against the inner end of the opening G-that is to say, against the solid portion F of the said cap F.. The operator then places the point of end F against-that part of the lobe of the ear which is to be pierced, and then at a lsingle stroke pierces the ear, carrying the cap E through the ear, and consequently also 8o carrying the wire or portion I-I of the earring and the forward portion of the shank A through the ear as far as the dotted line 4 4 of Fig. l. The cap F. is now moved forward and thus withdrawn from the shank A. The shank A is now moved backward, and at the same time the ear-ring is held still in relation to the ear. This operation withdraws the shank A from the ear and leaves the portion H of the ear-ring in the ear. The ear-ring, if 9o provided with a lock or catch, as J, may now be locked in the usual well-known manner. It cannot then slip out of the opening in the ear.

My improved ear-piercer is simple of construction, economical of manufacture, and durable. It is easily manipulated.

The piercing of the ear operates to introduce the ear-ring into the opening made by the operation of piercing, and also carries a portion of the ear-ring through the said open xoo ing. Thus a single operation suces to E, having a point F, the cap being adapted pierce the ear and pass the ear-ring. through to slide over the said shank, substantially as xo the ear, and obvates the necessity of subjectand for the purposes specified.

ing the patient to a second painful operation.

What I claim as new and of my invention, JOHN F. HORNBERGER. and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- Attest:

In an ear-piercer, zt rod or shankvA,prov GIDEON C. VILSON,

vided With recess or channel B, :und they cap K. SMITH. 

